Time to Rewire

Time to Rewire

October 2, 2012

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Twelve years ago, as a different presidential election approached, I was frustrated. I graduated from college and grad school in the mid-’90s and entered a robust job market, even in my chosen field of nonprofit advocacy. I faced few challenges paying off the loans I had taken to cover the portion of my tuition that my parents couldn’t pick up. Still, the world looked—and was—unjust. The wave of unchecked free trade sweeping the globe was wreaking havoc on the manufacturing base here at home and human rights abroad. Privatization of natural resources was the buzzword of the day, and the ecological projections felt downright apocalyptic. I wondered whether there was anything besides cosmetic differences between candidates Bush and Gore.

Twelve years, two wars, one financial crisis, 15 million underwater homes, trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy, and a social safety net hanging by a thread have disabused me of that notion: what’s cosmetic to one relatively privileged white girl is life-changing for the tens of millions living in poverty.

Deepak Bhargava lays out the imperative to lean into this election and keep an eye on post-election movement building. His basic premise is inarguable: things will get a whole lot worse if there’s a Republican takeover. But it is also worth considering how, in addition to the devastating material impact of a Romney presidency, a GOP victory robs us of the oxygen required to grow deeper and broader roots for the progressive movement.

This may seem counterintuitive, since surges in participation are often most visible in times of opposition, but the strength and numbers required to elect majorities are different from those needed to rewire policies and priorities. The latter requires us to innovate, to invest in multi-tiered organizing, and to shift our culture to embrace power—all of which would become virtually impossible under a Romney presidency.

An emphasis on innovation is our best bet to secure the necessary breakthroughs in organizing. Experimental online organizing drove the electoral wins of the last decade. Maybe the next breakthrough will come from merging advocacy and service to help people in distress and strengthen incentives for participation. Or maybe from programs that prioritize horizontal relationships and the elevation of community leaders. Or maybe from putting pressure on less visible actors like ALEC. Whatever that next breakthrough is, we won’t find it if our imagination is tied up in defense.

Victory feeds progressive momentum and participation. Strategically picking and winning offensive fights will not only help the folks who need it most; it will set the stage for continued progress. From the Dream Act to marriage equality, early success came in the states. Opportunities at the state level are looming—including a real chance for clean elections in New York—and acting on them requires the breathing room a Democratic presidency offers.

For the long game, progressives have to learn to embrace power. Winning deep concessions requires not only outside pressure but deep ideological connections with officeholders. Progressives, long wary of the way power corrupts, are often reluctant candidates. But those connections are far more assured when we elect our own. Our candidates will be more viable if we have time and money to invest in training them and strengthening their campaigns.

We still have our work cut out for us if Obama wins a second term. What we’re fighting for now is the opportunity to do that work.

Ilyse HogueTwitterIlyse Hogue, a social change practitioner, media consumer and analyst, and online engagement expert, is the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. Previously, she served as Co-Director of Friends of Democracy, a 2012 initiative to build political power around the issue of money in politics and as Senior Adviser to Media Matters for America where she focused on advocacy programs to undercut the power of right-wing media. From 2006- 2011, Ilyse was Director of Political Advocacy and Communications for MoveOn.org. In her over five years at MoveOn, she was responsible for shaping political strategy and developing communications initiatives to give MoveOn's five million members a voice in Washington. An expert in both electoral and advocacy campaigns, she has mobilized MoveOn members and worked closely with leaders in Congress and the White House to advocate for progressive legislation on financial regulatory reform and health care. In these capacities, she has served as a spokesperson to the media, frequently analyzing breaking news on both televisions and in print.
Prior to joining MoveOn, Ilyse was Program Director at the Rainforest Action Network, where she spent six years pioneering and implementing corporate advocacy campaigns in the banking, forest, and other sectors. She was the recipient of the Business Ethics Network award in 2005 for her work in the financial sector, a campaign that was ultimately instrumental in moving over 60 multinational banks to adopt a groundbreaking framework of environmental standards for private investment known as the Equator Principles. These principles led to a host of voluntary initiatives in the US banking sector, including from Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America. Ilyse was the chief negotiator in each of those agreements and worked to market them to a spectrum of constituencies, from institutional investors to environmental NGOs. A Harvard Business School case study was written in 2005 about this work, and she has lectured on it at Yale and Columbia. She has been a frequent speaker and writer about corporate power, corporate accountability and multi-national institutions that govern financial and corporate behavior. Ilyse was very involved in the global justice movement, traveling from Seattle to South Africa and many places in between working with international allies on corporate power.
She is the co-founder of smartMeme Strategy and Training project which works to amplify the impact of grassroots organizing with new strategy and training resources, values based communications, collaborations, and meme campaigning. Ilyse serves on the board of Rebuild the Dream, Oil Change International, Story of Stuff, and National Domestic Worker's Alliance. Ilyse holds an M.S. in Resource Ecology Management from the University of Michigan where she studied the impact of resource constraints in politics and culture. Her BA is from Vassar College.